colleges. It exhibits, in the centre of a Southern State, the
complete solution of the vexed negro question. In the large
tabernacle, on the 3d inst., was an audience of _two thousand_
people, rich and poor, white and colored, ex-masters and ex-slaves,
sitting where they could find seats, without distinction, and with
the kindest feelings. On the large platform sat in the rear the
more advanced students, about half white and half colored; in front
of them a choir of twenty singers, selected, evidently, with no
thought of complexion; at the right a brass band of various shades;
in front of all a score of professional men, with their wives,
among whom were several colored preachers; outside was a mixed
crowd of five hundred or more.
To this crowd twenty orations and essays were delivered by sixteen
young men and four young ladies, of whom fourteen were white and
six colored; and the only manifest thought of color was seen in
the fact that one side of the audience was of a darker shade than
the other. There was not the least sign of disturbance, nor any
indication of dissatisfaction with this order of things, though
more than two thousand of the audience must have come from regions
outside of Berea, which is a village of five hundred inhabitants. A
prominent Southern lawyer remarked that he never witnessed so good
order in so large a crowd.
This state of things has been brought about without constraint, in
the most natural way imaginable. It was originally a white school,
but thoroughly anti slavery. A few months after emancipation, a
couple of colored youths were admitted. Half the white students
left immediately. But the vacancy was soon filled with colored
students; and eventually the white students returned, and the
trouble was over. The whole question seems to turn on the learning
of one simple lesson—that contiguity with a free man is no more
disagreeable than contiguity with a slave. The colors are mixed
in all Southern society. A little change in the mixture has here
occurred, and that is all.
The college campus, in which are all the college buildings except
the Ladies’ Hall, consists of forty-five acres covered with
native forest trees. Under the shade of these trees, during the
intermission, two or three hundred groups spread and consumed their
basket-dinners. And, in the more retired parts, a thousand horses
were sheltered from the burning sun.
The afternoon exercises consisted of a rousing address by Prof.
Dunn of Hillsdale College, Mich., on the conflicts of civilization,
and a statement from President Fairchild to the effect that the
annual number of students is about 275—males, 145; females, 128.
Thirty-one are in the college department, and over a hundred are
qualified to teach a common-school. Probably sixty or more will
teach during the long summer vacation.
It has often been predicted that this school would either become
all white or all colored; but there seems to be no such tendency.
The idea of color seems almost to have passed away. Intellectual
culture and moral worth determine each man’s position in society.
It will be many years before this state of society becomes general;
but cheering progress in this direction is very manifest, and not
so tardy as many suppose.—_Kentucky, in the Congregationalist._
* * * * *
Frankfort.
MISS MATTIE E. ANDERSON, TEACHER.
The public examination of this school occurred June 13th, and was
one of great pleasure and interest. Each teacher conducted the
examinations of her own classes. Parents and friends were highly
gratified with the very flattering manner in which the young
ladies acquitted themselves. During the year the building has been
enlarged, and many improvements have been made. The new room was
opened about the first of March.
The closing exercises took place at Major Hall, June 19th, and
consisted of vocal and instrumental music, essays, declamations,
tableaux, dialogues and concert exercises.
Upon the stage were seated Rev. Mr. Evans, pastor of the A. M. E.
Church; Rev. Mr. Parris, of the Independent Baptist Church. Prayer
was offered by Rev. Mr. Evans. The children then sang “Away over
Mountain,” after which Miss Virgin Gatewood came forward and read
the Salutatory. The exercises were of more than usual interest,
and held the audience spell-bound from eight P.M. until twelve M.
The Valedictory was read by Miss Mittie Streets, after which “The
Star-Spangled Banner” was sung by the children, during which they
waved fifty flags in the most patriotic manner. Benediction was
then said by Rev. Mr. Martin, pastor of the First Baptist Church.
The hall was crowded with people, who seemed perfectly delighted
with all they saw and heard. We have received numerous compliments
from the citizens for giving such an interesting entertainment.
Four of our pupils are now teaching in different localities.
* * * * *
AFRICA.
MENDI MISSION, GOOD HOPE STATION.
In Good Health and Good Heart.
REV. ALBERT P. MILLER
After arriving on the African shores, and reaching our destination
(Good Hope), we soon decided to proceed at once to work. We had a
little hesitation in so doing, because we knew that we had been
instructed otherwise by the Executive Committee. Having been
assigned to our different posts of duty, we have been pushing
forward the work, with but little loss of time from sickness, ever
since. Brother Jackson had an attack of fever, which scared him
a little, but he soon rallied, and is now again in the field,
fighting valiantly. I was sick last week, but the trouble soon
passed away, and I am now walking about, feeling as well as any
African in this our fatherland. It may be of interest to you, and
to our many friends in America, to know that our wives have enjoyed
thus far an unusually good degree of health.
We know not what the future has in store for us; still do we feel
thankful to that kind Providence which we have enjoyed since our
departure from “dear old Fisk” and the American shores.
A great deal of the mist that gathered around our vision, in regard
to Africa and her people, while preparing to leave America, and
as the steamer bore us away and her land faded until lost in the
distance, has since been removed.
The Americans have a very vague idea of the land of “Ham” and her
dusky sons and daughters, who are now depending on the institutions
in the South for the story of the Cross.
If Africa is to be evangelized, as I believe it will be, it must be
done through the children of the summer and sunny clime, educated
and Christianized in the South. You in America can’t see this as
plainly as one who mingles with this people, and has all chances
to investigate in regard to this matter. If I could speak to every
institution in the South, I would ask each one of them to be true
to God and this common cause of humanity, which I would to God
would seize all Christendom, so that the many who have for ages sat
in darkness, might be brought into the light.
The work here still moves on prosperously in both church and
school. Ten or eleven were received at our last Communion into
the church, among whom were some of our scholars. We hope to see
these develop into strong Christian manhood and womanhood. We have
a great many very promising boys and girls in our school here,
who are able to read and speak English very well. In these is our
hope for a missionary work in Africa, which may expand until the
interior shall receive of its influence.
We have the material on which to work, and we ask our kind
heavenly Father to help us to shape these young hearts for fields
of usefulness, which they will have no difficulty in finding if
influenced by right motives. They sing well. The old plantation
songs are not without interest here in Africa; I have introduced
them into my school.
May God help you in America in every effort put forth for the
advancement of His kingdom.
May He provide for the wants of the eleemosynary institutions
planted in the South for the good of that people and the millions
of Africa.
May these institutions foster such young men and women as shall be
willing to work for the Master anywhere He may want them. Pray for
us!
* * * * *
THE CHINESE.
“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”
Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.
PRESIDENT: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D. VICE-PRESIDENTS: Rev. A. L.
Stone, D. D., Thomas O. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon.
F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S.
H. Willey, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D.,
Jacob S. Taber, Esq.
DIRECTORS: Rev. George Moor, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. W. E.
Ijams, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, E. P. Sanford,
Esq., H. W. Severance, Esq.
SECRETARY: Rev. W. C. Pond. TREASURER: E. Palache, Esq.
China for Christ.
REV. W. C. POND, SAN FRANCISCO.
A venerable Presbyterian minister of New York, to whom we are
indebted for a generous gift to our mission, writes as follows: “I
firmly believe that God in his providence is sending the heathen to
our doors, _in order that they may carry back the blessed news of
the gospel to their own land_; and if we turn them selfishly away,
He will surely require their blood at our hands.”
The truth thus expressed is a chief source of our enthusiasm in our
Chinese mission work. “CHINA FOR CHRIST” is our motto. I wish to
lay before the readers of the MISSIONARY some of the facts in view
of which we believe that we do reach China, though we are working
here 10,000 miles away.
There is nothing improbable in the idea. Indeed, it scarcely could
be otherwise. Hardly a steamer sails for China that does not carry
one or more of our pupils back to his native land. Most of these
are heathen still; but they are heathen with their eyes at least
half-opened. These, even, cannot be exactly what they were. But
many of them are Christians, as we confidently hope. Will these go
there to be silent? When neighbors and friends gather about them,
to hear the accounts they have to give of things in the Sunrise
Land, will they forget to tell of the Saviour they have found? I
do not believe it would be possible. The message to which they
have listened will be as a fire in their bones, and they will
feel that they must bear it on. Letters, too, are passing back
continually; and these are not empty of gospel. A missionary at
Canton writes me that the mother of one of our brethren lives near
his mission-house. “She enjoys the money he remits, but is not
pleased with his urging her to be a Christian.” I hear incidentally
that the parents of another of our brethren have been visiting all
the shrines near them, and, with wailings and prayers, have placed
their votive offerings where they thought they would do good,
hoping that thus he would be won back from Christian heresy to
their ancestral orthodoxy. What passes here in this regard is not
unknown at the old Chinese homesteads; and what is known is felt.
But we ought not to be content with these spontaneous and sporadic
operations. We do not rise to the height of our great opportunity
while we leave this thing to work itself. It ought to _be worked_
energetically, systematically. Never was battery better placed
for storming a stronghold than we are here, for pouring shot, hot
with the love of Christ, into that empire-fortress of selfishness
and superstition across the sea; but we need heavier guns, more
ammunition, and a truer aim.
About four years ago, Wong Min died at Canton. He was spoken of
after his death as “the distinguished native pastor of the Baptist
Church in Canton.” It was said that, in the absence of American
missionaries, he had carried the pastoral care of three Baptist
churches, and all were flourishing. Wong Min was converted at
Sacramento, in this State. Returning to his native land, he began
to tell in the streets and elsewhere the good news of redeeming
love. His work attracted the attention of Baptist missionaries,
and they took him into regular mission work. He had been at it
more than twenty years when the Master called him higher. But he
has left a son walking in his father’s steps—a preacher of great
promise. Why have we not by this time sent back to China a hundred
Wong Mins? It might have been done; it ought to have been done. How
large the blessing if it had been done! We are verily guilty in
this matter.
You will think me extravagant. “One hundred,” you say, “is a large
number; it would be a large proportion of the whole number reported
as converted in California from the beginning of missionary effort
to the present time.” I know it; but I do not flinch. It could have
been done, and the doing of it would have reacted on the work here,
and helped us to larger harvesting.
1. I observe that our Christian Chinese have a strong desire to
do this work. One of them once wrote me as follows: “In China,
those who live in the villages don’t know Jesus and never heard
of Him. I am sorry I cannot go home. If I could fly I would go
home immediately, and tell how good and how kind Jesus is. Then
I think they would all learn to love Him also. I want all our
people in China to be Christian, and our mothers and sisters and
friends to get the key, so they will go to heaven when they die.”
I shall never forget the joy that shone in the face of our Jee
Gam when he told me, a few months since, that a mission had been
established near his home. Soon after, I found him writing for
other eyes than mine—“Oh, how glad I feel whenever I think of this
mission-house in my own beloved district. How much I am indebted to
the ever-living and merciful Father for sending these missionaries
there!” In expressions like these, these brethren represent the
almost universal feeling among our Chinese believers—not from San
Francisco and Oakland alone, but from San Leandro, from Petaluma,
from Santa Barbara, from Stockton. As conversions are reported,
there comes again and again the suggestion that such or such a one
wants to learn how to preach the Gospel in his native land.
2. They are doing this thing now. The missionary sent to Jee
Gam’s district was converted in California. The story is full of
interest, and I give it in Jee Gam’s own words. It illustrates well
the truth I wish to state on more sides than one: “Six years ago,
a Chinese fortune-teller, while in California, heard a Chinese
missionary speaking to a crowd of his countrymen on the subject
of superstition. His heart was deeply touched. Not long after he
went home, and at once commenced to build a house for his family,
without going to an appointer of days to ask him to select a lucky
day to begin upon. And so his friends and relatives told him that
he must have a day selected before he put a single man to work,
or his house could never be built to stand, or somebody would be
killed by evil spirits before the house was completed. He told his
friends that he had done with that superstition, and that he would
keep on building. Finding they could not persuade him, they left,
saying they would have no more to do with him, for he had become
a foreigner. Then he was not only despised by these friends, but
by every one who lived in that village. They said the evil spirits
would soon take his life, or some great trouble would surely
visit his family. Finally, his house was completed. He moved in
and lived in perfect safety. People then began to wonder why the
evil spirits did not visit this house. Some said they were busy
elsewhere; but others said they must have gone away, and, on their
return, they would cause this home and this obstinate family to be
desolated. So they waited, but in vain; for this man prospered,
and in due time, in that very house, a son was born to him. When,
now, the people saw the joy of this household, they said one to
another, ‘He must have worshipped the foreign God, and so the
spirits dare not touch him.’ He came back to California and went
to fortune-telling again. This time he determined to learn more
of Christ, and every opportunity he could find he attended the
Chinese meeting, and searched for truth by reading the Bible. He
was finally converted, gave up his profession, and was baptized by
Rev. Mr. Loomis. He then went home the second time, and studied
at Rev. Dr. Happer’s mission in Canton, where he was fitted to be
a very able missionary, for he had a very good Chinese education
before he became a Christian. When he got through his studies,
he was sent to a large city, not far from his own home. There he
labored successfully for about two years, and he had been the means
of converting a number of his countrymen, among whom was one of
his villagers, a professor of Confucius. He was on his way to a
county examination; he visited the chapel where this missionary
was preaching, not that he might learn about Jesus, but merely for
curiosity. But the Lord’s design was otherwise. He sent him there
to be converted by the Holy Spirit, and fitted for the great work
which He intended to assign him.
“After his conversion, this missionary and a delegate were sent to
visit Chuck Hum, a city about six miles from my home. When they
reached there, great was their surprise to learn that a man named
Quan Lang, who lived close by, had been Christianized in Australia,
and had been preaching there, in the open air, for the last three
months. They searched and found him earnest in the faith, glad and
anxious to join himself with these missionaries. They consulted
together about opening a chapel there. Then they wrote Dr. Happer
about it. He consented, and they began. But oh, what a hard time
they met! Opposition came upon them from every side. Even the whole
city firmly united against them. After violent persecution, the
governor was consulted. He sent proclamations to the head man of
the city and the judge of the district, commanding protection to
his person and property. Then this missionary could have as many
police officers to protect him as he pleased. They even became
burdensome to him, and he had to dismiss them. When the chapel was
dedicated, it was crowded to its utmost capacity.” This brings
the story down to the present time. The work in that district, it
will be perceived, was begun by an Australian convert, and is now
carried on by one from California.
Two of our Oakland brethren, Joe Jet and Lee Sam, have recently
returned to China, and intend to commence at once their studies at
a mission-school, in order to preach the Gospel. One of our San
Leandro brethren, Jee Wee, started for China last October, and
has just returned. On the westward voyage he fell in with some
missionary families and a Chinese evangelist. The result was that
at once, on reaching Canton, he began evangelistic work, opening a
room for the distribution of Bibles, and preaching. He encountered
opposition and persecution at first, but, on application at
headquarters, was protected in the same manner with those of whom
Jee Gam writes above. The crowds that listened sometimes numbered
300 or 400. More than twenty were hopefully converted, his own
father and mother being among them. Another Lee Sam, who returned
to China about three years ago, and who, though a Christian, had
not at the time he left us been baptized, in his first letter
to his brethren here, told of the conversion of his brother, an
educated man and a sort of college professor, to whom he had been
speaking of the way of life.
We have lost sight of this Lee Sam, of Lui Chung, also, a most
hopeful convert and Christian worker, whom I ought to have retained
in California, and many others likewise. It is not strange that
this should be. Indeed, it could not be otherwise. We, 10,000 miles
distant, could not possibly follow them, save with our prayers. But
they ought to be followed, and nurtured and edified. And not only
that, but set at work, as light-givers and soul-savers, where-ever
they go.
It is easy to see that a Chinese, returning to his native land
from California, would be likely to have special advantages for
doing missionary work. In the first place, by a process of natural
selection, they are picked men. It is not the dullards or the
drones that undertake to cross the Pacific, and make their way
to fortune in a land so strange to them as this. And by the same
process it is, again, among those who come, the picked men that
enter our schools. The great mass do not care enough about learning
to follow up each hard day’s work with two hours of evening study.
Those that come do care, and care so much that they brave bitter
reproaches in coming, from those whom they leave behind.
Then, besides the limited education which they are able to get in
our schools, there is an unconscious education, which they _must_
be, all the while, unconsciously receiving, as they breathe the
air of a free and Christian land. Their views are broadened; the
old crusted conservatism is broken; and they can speak out, with a
force and an authority which, it seems to me, no Chinese who had
never left his native district could possibly use.
Then, there cannot but be an interest gathering about them, as
having been in “the land of the golden mountains.” They have the
story of this to begin with where-ever they go; they gather a crowd
by means of it; they gain attention; and the gospel of Christ
will come in after it as easily as if it belonged—as, indeed, it
does—to the very theme.
Now, what have I to propose? It is this: We ought to have a mission
at Hong Kong. It ought to be in close, vital relationship with our
California Mission. It ought to be at Hong Kong, because there our
steamers land their passengers, and from that point our brethren
scatter. Most of them do not enter Canton at all. We ought to have,
then, at least one American missionary—not necessarily a great
man, but a man of earnest piety and business capacity, and sound
common sense—a man who would give to his mission the atmosphere,
which, I am sure, our brethren recognize in the mission here, of
Christian kindliness and brotherly love—not that of a condescending
benevolence, but that of a hearty Christian brotherhood.
He ought to meet every converted Chinese—at least, from our own
mission (others, if they are willing)—and take him home to his
mission-house; find out his destination, and arrange to keep track
of him, and make use of him as an errand-bearer for Christ. And we,
on our part, ought to be raising up and sending men who, educated
either here or in China, may give themselves, under direction of
this missionary, to district gospel work.
So far forth, I am confident. It is no new thought with me, and, in
proposing it, I feel that I am walking on solid ground. I feel that
I speak in God’s name when I say this ought, forthwith, to be done.
Whether the proposed mission should be sustained by the A. M. A.,
or by the American Board; whether more than one efficient American
missionary will ever be needed; what sort of mission work he should
go about in Hong Kong itself—concerning these and other matters of
detail, any suggestion I could make would be crude, and, likely
enough, mistaken. But the proposal itself, as to its essentials, I
stand in no doubt about, and I ask the prayers and co-operation of
all who love Christ and souls, that it may be speedily fulfilled.
Let me add, as if by postscript, that a Chinese brother, Wun Ching
Ki, a member of one of the London Missionary Society’s churches at
Canton, who is in business at Hong Kong, has been doing something
in the line above marked out; has kindly welcomed and aided our
brethren on their arrival; has suggested that, in that English city
of Hong Kong, mission work among the Chinese could be conducted
most successfully, upon the very plan which we use here; and is
very desirous himself to send native preachers into the neglected
interior districts, asking whether our Chinese brethren here could
not help him so to do. The emphatic testimony which these bear
to his good judgment and general efficiency, as well as to his
Christian character, makes both the work he has done, and the work
he wants to do, confirm my confidence in the suggestion I have made.
* * * * *
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE.
We make the following extracts from letters of Mr. A. E. White,
one of our missionaries to Africa, to his former teachers at
Hampton Institute: